Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
Whawha 1-1 Flame Lily
FLAME Lily joined fellow prison wardens Whawha in Division One for next season after the two teams drew in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Ascot Stadium yesterday. A last minute penalty by Nelson Maziwisa extinguished their slim hopes of survival to condemn them back to the unfashionable world of Division One after just a single season in the topflight.
Needing nothing short of victory to enhance their mathematical chance of remaining in the Premiership, Flame Lily had a perfect start when Motion Mponda tucked in a James Chivasa cross.
With everything seemingly going well for the Chikurubi-based jailers, incessant pressure from the hosts, who had already been relegated together with Dongo Sawmill, deep into stoppage time saw Brighton Chandisaita handling a goal-bound Ali Njolomi shot in the box. Up stepped Maziwisa who made no mistake from the penalty spot, torching wild celebrations from a handful of Whawha supporters that braved the rains to watch Chekera Pasi’s last home match in the PSL.
The Whawha players could be heard shouting “Toenda tose” (We are going down together) during celebrations.
The result means Flame Lily can only finish on 29 points if they win their last match against FC Platinum next weekend, which is not enough to overtake fifth from bottom Tsholotsho, who have 30 points. A tearful Flame Lily coach Takesure Chiragwi said his side had given its all in the match.
“It was a decent game but maybe it was written in heaven (that we will be relegated) because we did everything to win this match and we managed to get an early goal. It hurts to concede a goal in the last seconds of play. Luck was not on our side,” said Chiragwi.
His Whawha counterpart Lloyd Mutasa said he was happy to exit the league with an unbeaten run at Ascot Stadium since Week 7. “The last time we never collected points at Ascot was the game against ZPC Kariba in Week 7 and we just wanted to exit the league with our home record intact,” he said.